ViewPoint Team Members Share Importance of Stress Awareness in Teens

14 Apr ViewPoint Team Members Share Importance of Stress Awareness in Teens

Stress is something that everyone deals with on a daily basis, but when it starts having an impact on your overall wellness it can become a major problem. Raising awareness about stress is important because many parents and teens don’t know how stress presents itself within themselves. Stress can be hard to interpret and understand, and it affects everyone.

Academic stress

“Many of the teens we help are worried about their future academic plans. They worry about not gaining credits, and specific subjects in school can be particularly stressful for them. Teens also have stress surrounding their differing expectations from their parents regarding future plans.

During the treatment process, it’s important for us to help parents understand that school may not necessarily be the priority. If we can’t help teens get healthy mentally, then long term success will be hampered. We sometimes help parents rearrange the priorities they are focusing on because of this, as academics in treatment is very much based on where each teen’s emotional health is.”

~~ Jennifer Capellen, Academic Director of ViewPoint Center

Stress Related To Social Media

“Social media is a major source of stress for the teens we help. Many teens feel pressure to constantly engage with their peers on social media. They can rely on the validation they receive from peers liking their posts and commenting on their photos, which can affect their resiliency overall.

Teens can wrap themselves up in the image they try to create on social media and they think if people aren’t responding to their photos, then they are not liked by their peers.

At ViewPoint Center, teens don’t have social media to rely on for validation or communication with their peers. Away from social media, teens can work on forming connections with others in person.”

Self Identity and Stress

“Another area of stress that we often see in the teens we help is stress around self identity. The teens we help are constantly worried about how they are being perceived by other people – is this person judging me?; is this person thinking bad about me? ; if I can’t feel good about myself how can someone else?

One of the therapeutic focuses while teens are at ViewPoint Center is helping build resiliency so patients can have confidence in themselves and better understand their identity.”

~~ Bailey Rinaldi LCSW, Primary Therapist

Addressing Stressors at ViewPoint Center

At ViewPoint Center, we help teens address stress by:

Helping them develop coping skills: We help patients build awareness of their stress and what may be causing it. Then, we help them learn to effectively manage the stress they are feeling.

Removing distractions: Away from social media and other distractions, teens can’t avoid their stress during their time with us. They have to face stress head on and find ways to cope that don’t involve avoiding stress.

Focusing on empowerment: We help empower teens to take their stress into their own hands and find their own motivation to cope with stress.

Leaving space for vulnerability: Creating space for vulnerability and teaching patients that it’s okay to be vulnerable and open is extremely important in helping them build a stronger sense of identity and self confidence.

Topics

ViewPoint Center is an inpatient mental health treatment and assessment hospital which serves the unique needs of young men and women ages 12-17. We are located on a small, inviting campus just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.